Tour de Pologne supports WorldTour reforms

The organisers of the Tour de Pologne have come out in support of the UCI WorldTour reforms, which offer promises of three-year WorldTour licenses and an expanded calendar in the top tier.

Speaking from the UCI WorldTour seminar in Barcelona, Spain, Czeslaw Lang, the Tour de Pologne general director, said wants to see the teams, riders and race organisers all work together to renew the sport.

"We are very satisfied, particularly for the decision regarding the licenses, which seems to be ready to go into effect starting in 2017," Lang said. "Becoming a part of the World Tour in 2005 has allowed the Tour de Pologne, and the entire Polish cycling movement, to grow under all aspects and take on a new dimension. Working on a three year term will guarantee more stability both to the teams as well as to us organizers, allowing us to make sound investments and develop more long lasting projects, engaging our partners with better guarantees."

WorldTour reforms were approved by the UCI Management Committee in September, but since then opposition from Tour de France organisers ASO and other historic races have highlighted the schism between those events that have been entrenched on the calendar and those who want to break onto it.

The UCI wants to ensure three-year licences, subject to annual review, for both teams and races, and to start considering new events for the 2017 WorldTour in the coming year.

UCI president Brian Cookson defended the reforms in a recent interview with Cyclingnews.